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zatisskates
Known Participant
February 16, 2020
Question

how to scale at an angle, or change angle of bounding box

  • February 16, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 3852 views

When you scale things, it only scales on the x, y, or both axies. I want to scale an object at an angle instead scaling at a combination of x and y. This is similar to if you had the bounding box rotated 30 degrees and then only scaling the x axis, it would effectively scale the object at a 30 degree angle only. currently the only work around ive found is rotating the object, resetting the bounding box, and then rotating it back so that the bounding box is at an angle, there must be a better wat to do this though.

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4 replies

Z
zatisskatesAuthor
Known Participant
February 16, 2020

im attaching example photos of what im mean. First 2 images are what happens if i try to scale at any diagonal angle, it just scales a combination of x and y. The next 4 images is the tediuous workaround i found to scale at any diagonal angle. basically you rotate the opposite way, reset bounding box, rotated back, and then scale from one side of the bounding box. So im either looking for a way to scale one one diagonal axis, or im looking for a way to rotate the bounding box without rotating the object so that i can orient to do this faster.

barbara_a7746676
Community Expert
barbara_a7746676Community Expert
Community Expert
February 17, 2020

Maybe what you want is Shearing. There is a Shear tool in the Tools panel, usually in the same cell as the Rotate tool.

You can click to position the origin point and then drag in the direction you want to shear. Or you could select the object and double click on the Shear tool to open a dialog box. If you Alt/Option click to set an origin point, the dialog box will use the origin where you Alt/Option clicked. If you double-click the Shear tool in the tools panel, the origin point will be in the center of the object.

Z
zatisskatesAuthor
Known Participant
March 17, 2020

Shear does not do it. the closer you try to shear at a 45 degree angle, the more it spazzes out because the sheer tool is still working with either x or y and does more twisting than scaling. The cube was just used for an example but sometimes il be drawing something and il want to make an object longer or shorter at a certain angle.

Kurt Gold
Community Expert
Kurt GoldCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 16, 2020

Sounds as if you are looking for a way to reverse the Reset Bounding Box command in conjunction with rotated objects in case an Undo command is not available anymore.

 

Does that apply?

    tromboniator
    Community Expert
    tromboniatorCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 16, 2020

    Go to Preferences > General and set the Constrain Angle to 30°. Turn on Smart Guides. Select the path to be scaled, activate the Scale Tool (S). Drag with the Scale Tool at about 30° to horizontal until Smart Guides annotation reads Horizontal (at 30°) and desired scaling amount is reached.

     

    Peter

    barbara_a7746676
    Community Expert
    barbara_a7746676Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 16, 2020

    I'm not sure that I understand what you need to do. Holding down the Shift key should let you scale proportionally in any direction.

    Maybe Effect > Transform and Distort > Transform would work for what you want to do. That command lets you scale and rotate within the same dialog box.

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